Interior minister promises title-deed progress within days

Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides said on Thursday he would have something concrete to present regarding trapped property buyers in the next few days, following consultations with the Legal Service.

“An intensive consultation is taking place between the interior ministry and the attorney-general so that a lawful arrangement can be found that would free the trapped buyers of mortgaged real estate,” the minister said. “I think we’ll have something more substantive to say in a few days.”

The land registry has suspended procedures relating to so-called trapped property buyers after a court ruled that a law designed to help them obtain title deeds clashed with the constitution.

The law aimed to sort out the mess created by the failure to issue title deeds to thousands of people who paid for their property, either because the property was mortgaged by the developer, or the state could not go ahead with the transfer because of outstanding taxes.

Since developers’ land and buildings are counted as assets that need to be offset against their debt to banks, this gave lenders a claim on people’s properties that had been mortgaged by developers.

The 2015 law granted the head of the land registry the authority to exempt, eliminate, transfer and cancel mortgages and or other encumbrances, depending on the case and under certain conditions.

The bill had been contested by banks from the onset and a district court upheld their position two weeks ago that the power given to the head of the land registry was unlawful.

The appeal was filed by Alpha Bank against a Paphos developer and a British couple.

The court said the law violated Article 26 of the constitution, which affords individuals the right to enter freely into any contract.

It also said lawmakers have no right to intervene in contracts that preceded the law.

According to Perdikis it was only one bank that was kicking up a stink and not complying with an albeit unconstitutional law……secondly timing of a so called title deed progress is being overshadowed by gesy & the Cyprus talks & even akels quest for a new face. The passing of the buck has to stop…..go after the persons who owe the money, we understand banks will take a hit, but hey freeze the pending payrises, after 2013 many of banking staff were happy to still have a job, and now the etek union has pushed & it has been passed that pay rises will be on the cards again! and on the flip side they are crying over the npls….

Mong Hlop

and the BS goes on and on and on…..

Cydee

It’s a very skewed law that says banks can penalise the buyers rather than the developers. Need to find another way to get even with these crooks.

JS Gost

The Bank of Cyprus is currently holding onto hundreds of issued Title Deeds from developers they now administer. The same Title Deeds that were promised to property owners, by the same developers, in lawfully binding contracts that were registered at the Land Registry. The banks lent recklessly for years and now they won’t play fair because they might make some losses…… it rhymes with bankers ironically.

emba paphos

You hit the nail on the head in “lawfully binding contracts that were registered at the Land Registry” so the land reg aka a state institution is culpable too, they were accepting sales agreements of properties that were built on already mortgaged, mechanisms should have been in place that should have afforded some protection to the purchasers.I think that’s why land reg waivered their silly demand that buyers who bought from dodgy developers that are up to their necks in debt to the state too are responsible for these developer debts – it was a case of no deeds if your developer doesn’t cough these up, I couldn’t care less if developer isn’t up to date with his cgt on profits he made selling me a property! or if he didn’t pay N.I contributions of his employees!
Just want to add that banks may well be holding onto a number of deeds of properties that they will be unable to pass on or sell if they don’t have certificates of final approval, somehow don’t see the banks getting involved on that front….so in essence what do they have in their posession?

Caulkhead

If the criminal law was enforced then the developers, lawyers and culpable civil servants would all be in jail. The bankers would be left with the delinquent loans they already have. The government seems to have stopped them selling these NPLs on, so they are never going to get their money back. If they can’t pass the buck the banks will have to take the hit or admit they were up to their necks in it as well.

Jonathan Scott

Spot on.

costas

a good assessment, one way street industry the banks, the correct principles should be smash their windows, though I would get into trouble for doing that

peemdubya

Or dump a trailer-load of manure on their doorstep, as a guy in UK did a few years ago – the video went viral.

Pete

And in the case of the Paphos developer and Alpha bank, the Paphos CID refuse to investigate why so many loans were granted without repayments being made. Alpha bank refuse to chase the developer and guarantors – something stinks and seemingly everyone wants it swept under the carpet.

emba paphos

alas you will find TOO many cases where loans were approved & exist years on where the bank has not seen a payment from day 1! and the penny has dropped after minimum 10 years!

Jonathan Scott

Dont forget how the lawyers didn’t help matters, nothing has happened to them, yet.

JS Gost

Would not p!ss on them if they were burning….

Jonathan Scott

I would if I could p!ss petrol.

Eye on Cyprus

Echoes of Neoklis Sylikiotis and his ‘Gordian Knot’.

emba paphos

Only one solution to cut it! and as former interior minister hasikos said the banks can go cut their throats they knew they what they were doing when lending to these developers etc and should have more control of who they were lending too etc etc

Eye on Cyprus

Aha! Well done, emba paphos! You know your Phrygian Gordium and the solution. Sadly, Sylikiotis never figured it out

emba paphos

to be frank alot more needs to be cut up in Cyprus, the link between shady developers-bankers-lawyers and state too

peemdubya

Won’t happen in our time, though, I fear…….

emba paphos

Supreme court if it is to go to that will have the final say, not some district court, but it has been mentioned that the existing law will be amended, amended to cover the developer and banks posteriors at the expense of the duped buyers yet again? & the so called legal team that drew up the law that was subsequently applied-were they high? if it was unconstitutional and full of holes pass it?, this law allowed thousands to apply in hope, only to leave these people in limbo!

Didier Ouzaid

‘It also said lawmakers have no right to intervene in contracts that preceded the law.’

This right here. And the fact that the appeal was filled by a bank. Signs that sorting the mess is going to be really difficult. You cant just write things off like that, that debt wont just disappear, someone will pay for it one way or another.

emba paphos

You are right but many of those contracts were fraudulent in the first place

Barry White

No need to write off debt. Simply issue a title deed to the owner who paid for their property. The debt is not written off, that would be silly, the debt be applied to the developers and their guarantors where it belongs.

The banks to aggressively collect those debts from the debtors- Developers and their guarantors from their Cypriot and worldwide assets.

Of course everyone involved apart from the duped buyer must cough up. Personally i find the actions of the lawyers the most abhorrent. You have ultimately commissioned them to protect your interests. A title search is a normal regular part of conveyance .

Slomi

A good suggestion.

peemdubya

Would end up with over 50% of the “lawmakers” getting a case of squeaky bums!!!! Yeah, let’s do it!!!

disqus_ZPlOdQqScB

Perfect reply with a perfect answer and how it would be applied elsewhere-if only Cyprus could wake up.

Jeremy Rigg

Barry……do please stop being so bloody sensible, its out of place in Cyprus.

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